COLLEGE ROUNDUP: UCLA QUALIFIES FOR FINAL FOUR.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Before the NCAA women's volleyball tournament started, Ali Daley said she had visions of UCLA celebrating a national title.

The sophomore outside hitter did her part Saturday night to help the Bruins move a step closer to making that vision a reality.

Daley recorded eight kills, including one on match point, and 11 digs, and Kaitlin Sather and Nana Meriwether each added 13 kills to lead No. 5 UCLA to a 30-16, 30-23, 30-23 victory over host Hawaii in the Honolulu Regional final in front of a crowd of 9,572 at Stan Sheriff Center, lifting the Bruins to their first Final Four since 1994.

``I've already seen flashes of us winning. Sometimes twice a day,'' said Daley, a Long Beach State transfer, who helped UCLA (33-3) defeat No. 12 Hawaii (29-6) for the second time this season.

``We have such an amazing group of seniors and our goal from the beginning of the season has been to make it to the Final Four. It's just been an incredible experience.''

UCLA, which will play top-ranked Nebraska (31-1) in one national semifinal Thursday, is the only team to reach the Final Four without dropping a game in the tournament. Second-seeded Stanford (29-3) and No. 3 Washington (29-4) also advanced.

The Bruins, who lost to Nebraska 30-28, 30-23, 30-16 in last year's regional final, will play the host Cornhuskers, who rallied from a two- game deficit Saturday to defeat Minnesota in five, at the Qwest Center in Omaha.

UCLA, which defeated Hawaii 30-19, 30-26, 30-24 on Sept. 3 in the Hawaiian Airlines Classic, scored the match's first four points Saturday and added a seven-point run en route to outhitting Hawaii .571 to .067.

Leading 22-21 in the second game, the Bruins pulled away with a 7-1 run. UCLA led by the same score in the final game, then scored six of the next seven points before Daley closed out the match.

Nellie Spicer (seven kills, seven digs, 43 assists) and Katie Carter (11 kills) joined Meriwether, who added fiveblocks, on the all-regional team. Colby Lyman recorded 11 digs to improve her career total to 1,008.

Jamie Houston, who had 35kills in Hawaii's five-game win Friday over No. 5 USC, finished with 12 kills and hit .029.

-- Erik Boal

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 

No. 23 New Mexico 72, UCLA 63: Dionne Marsh scored 21 points, Julie Briody added 17 and the Lobos overcame a 10-point, first-half deficit in the championship game of the Southwest Airlines Shootout.

The win was the seventh straight for the Lobos (8-2). The loss snapped a three-game winning streak by the Bruins (6-5).

New Mexico ended the first half on an 11-4 scoring run to lead 36-35. The Lobos were still clinging to that one-point advantage, 54-53, when Briody scored seven straight points late in the second half.

Lindsey Plummer led the Bruins with 22 points. Noelle Quinn added 15.

USC 72, Hawaii 52: Shay Murphy had 19 points and 10rebounds, her fourth double-double of the season, to lead the Women of Troy to the victory at the Lyon Center.

Allison Jaskowiak and Chloe Kerr each added 10points for USC (4-4), which took a 38-30 lead at the intermission and pulled away in the second half.

The Women of Troy outscored Hawaii (4-4) 32-10 in the paint.

BYU 55, Cal State Northridge 48: Mallary Gillespie scored 16 points, making four 3-pointers, and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the host Cougars to the victory.

BYU (6-3) limited CSUN to 27.9 percent shooting (17 of 61) and held a 55-39 rebounding edge. The Matadors led 26-25 at halftime, but they made just five field goals in the second half.

Jamie McCaa recorded her fourth career double-double with 14 points and a personal-best 12 rebounds, but CSUN (3-7) couldn't overcome a season-low in points.

Ofa Tulikihihifo added 11points for the Matators, moving to within 10 points of becoming CSUN's all-time leading scorer.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Cal St. Fullerton 83, Pepperdine 81: Bobby Brown scored 22 points to help the visiting Titans to the victory.

Fullerton (6-2) also was led by Justin Burns, who had 15points, and Frank Robinson, who added 14 points and four steals.

Fullerton nearly squandered a huge lead. The Titans stretched out a 14- point advantage at 65-51 midway through the second half, but Pepperdine (2-7) rallied with a 12-0spurt and cut the deficit to twopoints, 65-63. Kingsley Costain stole the ball and made a layup as the Waves took their first and only lead with 6:17 remaining.

Pepperdine had a chance to win the game, but Marvin Lea missed a 3- pointer with 2 seconds left.

Chase Griffin had 20 points for Pepperdine, which is off to its worst start since the 1996-97 season, when they lost 10 of their first 12 games.

Fullerton raced out to 16-2 lead, then built an 18-point advantage midway through the first half. The Titans took a 44-36 lead into intermission.

Boise State 84, Cal State Northridge 75: Matt Nelson scored a season- high 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to spur the Broncos to the victory at The Matadome.

Coby Karl also added 19points for Boise State (4-4), which earned its first road win of the season.

The Broncos took advantage of their size as CSUN (5-4) was without its starting center, Thomas Shewmake. The Broncos scored 32 points in the paint and shot 54 percent from the field.

The Matadors had a 35-34 lead at halftime but went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal in the second half. The team also lost forward Calvin Chitwood, who fouled out and played only 10 minutes. Two other players also fouled out.

CSUN was led by Jonathan Heard, who topped all scorers with a season- high 24 points.